by Muhsin Mahdi
When the vizier’s wife heard the cries, she came out of the bath in a hurry to see what was causing the commotion in the house. She came up to the two maids and said, “Woe to you, what is the matter?” They replied, “Our lord Nur al-Din came and beat us, and since we were unable to stop him, we fled, while he entered Anis al-Jalis’s chamber and embraced her for a while, but we don’t know what he did afterward, except that he came out running.” The vizier’s wife went into Anis al-Jalis’s chamber and asked her, “O my daughter, what happened to you?” Anis al-Jalis replied, “O my lady, as I was sitting here, a handsome young man suddenly came in and asked me, ‘Aren’t you the one whom my father bought for me?’ and I replied, ‘Yes,’ for, by God, my lady, I thought that he was telling the truth. Then he came up to me and embraced me.” The vizier’s wife asked, “Did he do you-know-what to you?” Anis al-Jalis replied, “Yes, but he did it only three times.” The vizier’s wife said, “I hope that you will not have to pay for this!” and she and the maids began to cry and beat their faces, for they feared that Nur al-Din’s father would kill him.
While they were in this condition, the vizier came in and asked, “Damn it, what is the matter?” But nobody dared tell him what had happened. He came up to his wife.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I stay alive!”
THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that the vizier came up to his wife and said, “Tell me the truth.” She replied, “I will not tell you until you swear that you will do whatever I say.” He said, “Very well.” She said, “Your son went in to Anis al-Jalis and took her virginity.” When the vizier heard his wife words, he sagged down to the ground, beat his face until his nose began to bleed, and plucked out the wisps of his beard. His wife said to him, “My lord, you are killing yourself. I will give you ten thousand dinars, the price of the girl, from my own money.” But he raised his head and said to her, “Damn it, I don’t need her price. I am afraid of losing both my life and my possessions.” She asked, “My lord, how so?” He replied, “Don’t you know that our enemy al-Mu’in ibn-Sawi is lying in wait for us, and when he hears of the affair, he will go to the king and say to him, ‘O my lord, your vizier, who, according to you, loves you and cares for your welfare, has taken ten thousand dinars from you and bought a girl, whose like was never seen, but when he saw her, he liked her and said to his son, “Take this girl for yourself, for you deserve her more than the king.” So, my lord, the young man took her and took her virginity and she is now with him.’ Then the king will reply, ‘You are lying,’ and the vizier will say, ‘With your leave, I will bring the slave-girl to you.’ The king will order him to do so, and he will come, attack us, and take the girl to the king, who will question her, and she will not be able to deny what has happened. Then the vizier will say to the king, ‘O my lord, I have done this only so that you may know that I give you true counsel and care for your welfare. By God, my lord, I have not been fortunate, yet everybody is jealous of me.’ When the king hears this, he will give orders to kill me and plunder my property.” When his wife heard this, she said to him, “My lord, don’t you know that God’s graces are hidden from us?” He replied, “Yes.” She added, “O my lord, commit yourself to the Almighty God, and I will pray to Him that none will discover the affair of the girl or hear anything about it, for, my lord, ‘The Master of what lies hidden controls what lies hidden.’” When the vizier heard his wife’s words, he calmed down and drank a cup of wine.
As for Nur al-Din, fearing the consequences of the affair, he spent the whole day in the gardens and places of entertainment, away from his companions, and came back at night. When he knocked, the maids opened the door for him, and he went to sleep but left before daylight. He lived like this for a whole month, without showing his face to his father, until his mother said to her husband, “My lord, you have lost the girl and now you are going to lose your own son. If things continue like this, he will run away.” The vizier asked, “What shall we do?” She replied, “My lord, stay awake and wait for him tonight, and when he comes home late at night, seize him and scare him, and I will rescue him from you. Then you will make your peace with him and give him the girl, for she loves him and he loves her, and I will pay you her price.”
The vizier waited until his son came home, and when he heard him knocking at the door, he rose and hid in a dark corner, while the maids opened the door. When the young man entered, he suddenly felt someone seize him and throw him down to the ground, and when he raised his head to see who had done this to him, he saw his father.
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange, amazing, and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that the young man saw that the man who had thrown him down was his father, who then knelt on his breast and pulled out a knife as if to cut his throat. At that moment the vizier’s wife came up from behind and said, “What do you want to do with him?” He replied, “I want to kill him.” Nur al-Din asked, “My lord, do you find it so easy to kill me?” His father looked at him, and, as the divine power moved him and his eyes filled with tears, he said, “Son, do you find it so easy to make me lose my life and my possessions?” The young man replied, “O my lord, the poet says:
Pardon my crime, for every mighty judge
Is used to mercy some offenders show.
I stand before you, guilty of all sins,
But you the ways of grace and mercy know.
For he who seeks forgiveness from above
Should pardon the offenders here below.”
When he heard this, the vizier felt compassion for his son and rose up from his chest. Then Nur al-Din kissed his father’s hands and feet, and his father said to him, “O Nur al-Din, if I knew that you would treat Anis al-Jalis fairly, I would give her to you.” Nur al-Din asked, “My lord, how do you wish me to treat her?” His father replied, “Do not take an additional wife, or abuse her, or sell her.” Nur al-Din replied, “My lord, I swear to you,” and he swore to do none of these things. Then he went in to Anis al-Jalis and for a whole year lived with her the happiest of lives, while God caused the king to forget the affair of the slave-girl. Meanwhile al-Mu’in ibn-Sawi was unable to speak of the affair because of the intimacy of the Vizier Fadl al-Din with the king.
One day, at the end of the year, the Vizier Fadl al-din went to the bath and, coming out, still in perspiration, caught a chill, became feverish, and took to his bed. When he got worse, until he was no longer able to sleep, he called his son, and when the son came, his father wept and said, “O my son, you should know that fortune is allotted, that life is allocated, and that everyone must die. The poet says:
I am mortal and know that I must die;
Glory to the eternal Lord and King.
He is no king who is subject to death;
The sovereignty is His who fears no mortal thing.
“O my son, I have no charge to give you, save to fear God, to weigh the consequences of your actions, and to look after Anis al-Jalis.” Nur al-Din said, “O my father, who can be like you, you who are known for your good deeds and the blessings invoked upon them from the pulpits?” His father replied, “O my son, I pray for God’s acceptance.” Then his death throes began, and when he expired, the cries of the women of his household filled the palace. The king received the news, and when the citizens heard of the death of the vizier Fadl al-Din ibn-Khaqan, everyone cried, the children in their schools, the men in their mosques, and the women in their homes. Then Nur al-Din proceeded
to prepare his father for burial, and all the citizens, headed by the princes, viziers, and officers of state, attended. The young man gave him the most lavish preparations, and when he was buried, a poet mourned him with the following verses:
On Thursday I left my dear ones for good,
And my friends washed me on a slab of wood,
And stripped me of the clothes that I had on
And made me other than my own clothes don
And on four shoulders carried me away
And in the mosque did on my body pray;
A standing prayer on me they performed,
As all my friends around my body swarmed.
At last they took me to a vaulted hut
Whose door will to the end of time stay shut.
After his father was buried, Nur al-Din returned with his family and friends, still weeping and sobbing, as if to say:
On Thursday night I bade adieu and stayed,
While they departed and left me alone,
Taking my soul with them, and when I said,
“Return,” it answered, “How can I go on
In a body reduced to rotting bones,
A frame where both the flesh and blood are gone,
Where the eyes are blinded by bitter tears,
And the ears hear not, being as deaf as stone?”
He continued to mourn his father deeply for a long time. One day …
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad replied, “Very well,” and said:
I heard, O happy King, that one day, as the vizier’s son Nur al-Din sat in his father’s palace, there was a knock at the door. He rose and, opening the door, found one of his father’s friends and companions, who kissed his hand and said to him, “My lord, he who has left the like of you is not dead. My lord Nur al-Din Ali, take comfort, be cheerful, and stop mourning.” So Nur al-Din rose and went to the guest hall and, transporting there whatever he needed for entertainment, invited his friends, ten of the sons of merchants, and asked his girl Anis al-Jalis to join him. Then he began to eat and drink, giving one banquet after another and dispensing gifts, favors, and honors until his steward came to him one day and said, “My lord Nur al-Din, have you not heard the saying ‘He who spends without reckoning, becomes poor without knowing it’? My lord, this enormous expense and lavish giving will erode even mountains.” When Nur al-Din heard his steward’s words, he looked at him and said, “I will not listen to one word of yours. Haven’t you heard the poet say:
If I have wealth and be not liberal,
May my hand wither and my foot be stilled.
Show me the niggard who has glory won;
Show me the man who by giving was killed.”
Nur al-Din added, “It is my wish that if you have enough for my morning meal, worry me not about my supper a great deal.” The steward said, “Is this what you wish?” Nur al-Din replied, “Yes.” Then the steward left him and went away while he continued to pursue his pleasures and his lavish ways, so that if someone chanced to say to him, “My lord Nur al-Din, such and such an orchard of yours is lovely,” he would reply, “It is yours as an irrevocable gift from a friend,” and if the man asked for the deed, he would not hesitate to give it to him; if another said to him, “Such and such a house,” another, “My lord, that other house,” and a third, “Such and such a bath,” he would give them all to them. In this way he lived an entire year, giving daily banquets, one in the morning, a second in the evening, and a third at midnight.
One day, as he sat listening to Anis al-Jalis sing these verses:
You thought well of the days when they were good,
Oblivious to the ills fate brings to one.
You were deluded by the peaceful nights,
Yet in the peace of night does sorrow stun,
there was knocking at the door. One of the guests said, “My lord Nur al-Din, there is knocking …”
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that one of the guests said, “There is knocking at the door.” So Nur al-Din Ali rose and went to the door, but, without knowing it, he was followed by one of his companions. When he opened the door, he found the steward standing there, and when he asked him, “What is the matter?” the steward replied, “My lord, what I feared has come to pass.” Nur al-Din asked, “How so?” The steward replied, “To put it briefly, you should know that there is not even a dirham’s worth left of your possessions in my hands; here is the record of what was entrusted to your servant in my lord’s own handwriting.” When Nur al-Din heard this, he bowed his head and said, “This is God’s wish, for there is no power, save in God.”
As soon as the man who had secretly followed Nur al-Din heard what the steward said, he returned to his companions and said to them, “You should consider what to do, for Nur al-Din is bankrupt and destitute.” They replied, “We will not stay with him.” Meanwhile Nur al-Din dismissed the steward and returned to them with a troubled look. Then one of them rose and, turning to him, said, “My lord, perhaps you will give me leave to depart.” Nur al-Din asked, “For what reason?” The man replied, “My wife is due to give birth today, and I cannot be absent from her and wish to be with her.” Nur al-Din gave him leave, and another rose, made an excuse, and departed. Then each in turn gave excuse until all ten companions were gone and Nur al-Din was left alone.
Then he called Anis al-Jalis, and when she came, he said to her, “O Anis al-Jalis, do you see what has happened to me?” and he related to her what the steward had told him. She said, “My lord, your family and friends have warned you, but you refused to listen. O my lord, some nights ago I intended to speak to you about the matter, but I heard you recite these verses:
If fortune befriend you be kind to all,
Before she slips away and lets you down.
Munificence will not undo it if she smile,
And avarice will not preserve it if she frown.
When I heard you, I kept quiet and decided not to open the subject.” Nur al-Din said to her, “O Anis al-Jalis, you know that I have spent my money on none save my ten friends, and I don’t think that they will leave me destitute.” She replied, “By God, my lord, they will never help you.” Nur al-Din said, “I will rise at once and go to them and maybe I will get enough from them to use as capital to trade with and leave off idle pursuits.”
Then Nur al-Din rose and went until he came to a certain street, where all his ten companions happened to live. He went to the first door, and when he knocked, a maid came out and asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “O girl, say to your master, ‘My lord Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan stands at the door and wishes to kiss your hand and greet you.’” The girl went in and told her master, who yelled at her, saying, “Go out and say to him, ‘My master is not at home,’” and the girl came out and said to Nur al-Din, “My master is not at home.” Nur al-Din said to himself …
But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!”
THE TWO HUNDRED AND NINTH NIGHT
The following night Shahrazad said:
I heard, O happy King, that Nur al-Din said to himself, “Though this fellow is a bastard who has turned me away, another may not be so.” Then he went to the second door, and whe
n he knocked, a maid came out, and he repeated what he had said to the first girl. She disappeared, then returned, saying, “Sir, he ain’t here.” Nur al-Din smiled and said to himself, “Maybe I will find another who will help me.” So he went to the third door, saying to himself, “I will send him the same message.” But when the third turned him away too, he regretted coming, wept, and recited the following verses:
When affluent, a man is like a tree,
Round which people collect as long as fruit they see.
But when the fruit is gone, they turn away
And leave the tree to dust and misery.
Perish the people of this age; not one
In ten can as a friend be counted on.
Then Nur al-Din returned to Anis al-Jalis, feeling even more depressed than before, and she said to him, “My lord, do you believe me now?” He replied, “By God, not one of them would take any notice of me or ask me in.” She said, “My lord, sell some of the furniture and utensils in the house until the Almighty, Exalted, and Glorious God provides.” So Nur al-Din began to sell the articles, little by little, and to live on the proceeds until there was nothing left. Then he turned to Anis al-Jalis and asked, “What is left to sell now?” She replied, “O my lord, it is my advice that you should rise at once and take me down to the market and sell me. You know that your father bought me for ten thousand dinars; perhaps the Exalted and Glorious God will help you get close to this amount for me, and if it is His will to reunite us, we will meet again.” Nur al-Din replied, “O Anis al-Jalis, by God, I cannot endure to be parted from you one single hour.” She said, “By God, my lord, nor can I; but necessity compels, as the poet says: